July 30, 2018

Democrat-run cities and states have promised public employee unions generous pensions for years, and now the proverbial chickens are coming home to roost. The unfunded liabilities in places from New Jersey and New York to Illinois and the three west coast states, the pension hole is approximately $5 trillion - about the size of the economy of Japan.

This is not a recoverable situation, and it's hard to see how so many people could have failed to see this day coming.

Stacey Abrams is vowing to improve Georgia’s economic standing, but she believes her struggles with massive personal debt do not reflect poorly on her fiscal responsibility. So she's running for governor.

“I did not understand that those magical slivers of plastic that I was getting in in college, a $100 purchase was going to cost me like $3,000 over the next seven years,” Abrams statedin an interview with Yahoo Finance. “And that if I didn’t pay the bill every month it was going on some report that was going to follow me even after I had a great job.”

Abrams owes back taxes amounting to $40,201 for 2015 and $13,851 for 2016. She owes $96,512 in student loan debt and another $77,522 in credit card debt spread over nine different accounts. In total, she is about $228,000 in the red. This number is actually higher if you count her $178,500 in real estate debt and her $4,434 car loan.

Abrams — who would become the first black female governor in the country if elected — also appeared to cite prejudice for her financial woes. Defending her weak financial standing in an op-ed for Fortune, the gubernatorial candidate blamed wealth disparities between white, Latin and black households as partially the result of housing, labor and education discrimination.

Just what they need: a governor with no understanding of personal finance while blaming it on prejudice!

June 10, 2018

As of last year, Canada charged 25% on boats built in the US shipped to Canada. US tariff on Canadian boats is 2.5% Butter eggs and dairy products shipped from the US to Canada have between 275% and 293% Canadian tariff charged, and the same products shipped from Canada to the US are charged 1%.

Trump is correct when he says that has to stop. Trudeau doesn't have to like the change. It's just going to happen.

May 30, 2018

The lack of economic freedom in California compared to Texas is likely why, according to census, from 2012 to 2016, a net of 521,052 Californians left the state. Texas was their most popular destination, with a net of 114,413 Californians moving 1,300 miles east to the Lone Star State.

California has the nation’s highest marginal income tax rate and ranks in the worst five for state and local tax burden.

As well, Texas isn't a "sanctuary" state.

Build the wall - along the California border. They're like locusts: once the destroy one field, the move on to the next.

May 23, 2018

Twenty cities are competing for Amazon’s second headquarters. Then there’s Seattle, Amazon’s current headquarters, which the city apparently wouldn’t mind driving away.

Seattle’s city council unanimously approved a $250 “tax” per full-time employee on businesses with more than $20 million in annual revenue.

That was last week; this week, they're proposing to jack up property taxes as well. Earlier this year, they imposed a tax on evil sugary beverages, which unsurprisingly resulted in people picking up their drinks outside Seattle City Limits.

At the rate their city council's going, Seattle will soon become a place where only the uber-rich (and the homeless) can live.

In the real world, that's $1.61 per liter. 1 L = 0.264172052 gal US. And actually, the cost is closer to $6 USD per gallon, though it'll hit $8 soon enough. Still, if you have a ten-gallon tank in your vehicle, a fill-up will run you about $60 now.

Former Liberal Member of Parliament Dan McTeague, who now heads the petroleum industry watchdog GasBuddy.com, told CBC News that Vancouver has the dubious honor of having the highest gas prices anywhere in North America, from Alaska to Mexico. Vancouver was one of the first cities in Canada to proudly unveil a carbon tax that has continued to escalate year after year.

But as noted here yesterday, Gov. Moonbeam is doing his best to play catch-up by increasing vehicle registration fees and increasing fuel taxes, and vows to fight any attempts to reject the increases through the initiative process.

Carbon taxes! They have no effect upon the environment, much less the climate - but plenty of impact on your wallet.

April 15, 2018

Joseph Robertson, an eye surgeon who retired as head of the Oregon Health & Science University last fall, receives the state’s largest government pension.

It is $76,111.

Per month.

And that's just the tip of this particular iceberg. The costs just keep going up and the deficit continues to balloon due to nearly four decades of control by out-of-state Democratics who moved here and got into politics.

The Beaverton School District, outside Portland, had to get rid of 75 teachers last year when its mandatory pension contribution rose by $14 million. That was after shedding 340 teachers in 2012.

Randall Pozdena, an economist who supervised the pension system’s investments in the 1990s, gave speeches warning that the situation was unsustainable.

“The only way you’re going to get out of this is if the state is hit by a golden asteroid from Planet Tiffany,” he recalled saying.

But efforts to change the system, including a 1994 ballot initiative, were blocked by the State Supreme Court, which ruled that accruals could not be reduced during any public worker’s career.

Of course, the judges on the state Supreme Court all just happen to be in PERS. Funny how that works.

Eventually - and sooner than later - the Democratics are going to run out of other people's money to spend.

April 08, 2018

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Escalating tensions between the United States and China have triggered a flurry of U.S. soybean purchases by European buyers, in one of the first signs that trade tariff threats lobbed between the world’s top two economies are disrupting global commodity trade flows.

The world's largest exporter of soybeans is Brazil, and China's buying most of those. The USA is the second-largest exporter, but with the new tariffs slapped on by China, our beans are going to the E.U.

That's great for the Gulf ports, but not so much for ports on the Pacific coast. This trade battle is going to hurt the Pacific Northwest, at least in the short term.

February 16, 2018

CARACAS (Reuters) - A Venezuelan security firm is looking to attract personnel with a “motivational” bonus of 144 eggs for good presentation and time-keeping - alongside a $10 per month salary. Aware of food scarcities and soaring prices in the crisis-hit economy, Atlas Security, in western Zulia state, is seeking security guards on a 2 million bolivar monthly salary - $10 at the black market rate - plus a “motivational” bonus of eggs.

It just doesn't get much better than that; another shining example of socialism. Move there, and you, too, can be a millionaire. With eggs!

Or just stick around here as Democratics work toward the same level of success.